AP Biology Ecology Flashcards

5084134668	Population	a localized group of individuals of the same species that can interbreed, producing fertile offspring	0
5084134669	Community	all the organisms that inhabit a particular area; as assemblage of populations of different species living close enough together for potential interaction	1
5084134670	Ecosystem	all the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact	2
5084134671	Biotic	pertaining to the living organisms in the environment	3
5084134672	Abiotic	nonliving; referring to physical and chemical properties of an environment	4
5084134673	Biosphere	the entire portion of earth inhabited by life; the sum of all the planet's ecosystems	5
5084134674	Niche	the sum of a species' use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment	6
5084134678	Population Ecology	the study of populations in relation to their environment, including environmental influences on populations, on population density and distribution, age structure, and variations in population size	7
5084134679	Birth Rate	rate of annual birth within a population	8
5084134680	Death Rate	rate of annual death within a population	9
5084134683	Immigration Rate	the rate of influx of new individuals INTO a population from other areas	10
5084134684	Emigration Rate	the rate of movement of individuals OUT of a population	11
5084134685	Carrying Capacity	the maximum population size that can be supported by the available resources, (symbolized by K)	12
5084134686	Density Dependent	any characteristic that varies according to an increase in population density	13
5084134687	Exponential Growth	growth of a population in an ideal, unlimited environment, (represented by a J-Shaped curve when population size is plotted over time)	14
5084134688	Logistical Growth	population growth that levels off as population size approaches carrying capacity	15
5084134689	K-Selected	stabilize around carrying capacity, have fewer offspring later in life, mature later, live longer and invest more parental care	16
5084134690	R-Selected	reside in unstable environment, have many offspring early in life, mature earlier, shorter life span, no parental care	17
5084134691	Survivorship Curve	the plot of the proportion or numbers in a cohort still alive at each age	18
5084134692	Type I Surivorship Curve	low death rates during early/middle life then increase among older age groups (humans)	19
5084134693	Type II Surviorship Curve	constant death rate over the organism's life span	20
5084134694	Type III Surviorship Curve	very high death rates for the young and then declines for those few individuals that survive the early period (insects)	21
5084134695	Symbiosis	an ecological relationship between organisms of two different species that live together in direct and intimate contact	22
5084134696	Commensalism	a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither helped nor harmed	23
5084134697	Mutualism	a symbiotic relationship in which both participants benefit	24
5084134698	Parasitism	a symbiotic relationship in which one organism (the parasite) benefits at the expense of another (the host) by living either within or on its host	25
5084134699	Intraspecific Competition	interactions between the same species competing for resources	26
5084134700	Interspecific Competition	competition for resources between individuals of two or more species when resources are in short supply	27
5084134701	Predation	an interaction between species in which one species (the predator) eats the other (the prey)	28
5084134706	Pioneer Species	the first species to colonize previously disrupted or damaged ecosystems, beginning a chain of ecological succession that ultimately leads to a more biodiverse steady-state ecosystem	29
5084134707	Climax Community	in a community of organisms in a specific area there is one state of equilibrium controlled solely by climate	30
5084134708	Succession	the process by which the structure of a biological community evolves over time	31
5084134709	Primary Succession	a type of ecological succession that occurs in an area where there were originally no organisms present and where soil has not yet formed	32
5084134710	Secondary Succession	a type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil or substance intact	33
5084134713	Herbivore	an animal that eats mainly plants or algae	34
5084134714	Carnivore	an animal that mainly eats other animals	35
5084134715	Detritivore	a consumer that derives its energy and nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, and the wastes of living organism (a decomposer)	36
5084134716	Food Chain	the pathway along which food energy is transferred from trophic level to trophic level, beginning with producers	37
5084134717	Food Web	the interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem	38
5084134718	Trophic Levels	the positions organisms occupy in a food chain	39
5084134719	Secondary Consumer	a carnivore that eats herbivores	40
5084134720	Primary Consumer	a herbivore; an organism that eats plants or other autotrophs	41
5084134721	Biogeochemical Cycles	any of the various chemical cycles, which involve both biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems	42
5084134722	Carbon Cycle	forming the framework of organic molecules, photosynthesis & cellular respiration circulate this nutrient	43
5084134723	Phosphorus Cycle	cycling of this nutrient through geologic processes such as erosion and sedimentation	44
5084134724	Nitrogen Cycle	this nutrient is converted to compounds that can be assimilated by plants then returned in gas form to the atmosphere; all processes rely on bacteria	45
5084134725	Nitrogen Fixation	the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia	46
5084134727	Water Cycle	this nutrient cycle involves evaporation from the earth & transpiration from plants and falls then by precipitation back down to the earth to begin the cycle again	47
5084134729	Competitive Exclusion Principle	the concept that when populations of two similar species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population	48
5084134730	Resource Partitioning	the division of environmental resources by coexisting species such that the niche of each species differs by one or more significant factors from the niches of all the coexisting species	49
5084134734	Keystone Species	a species that is not necessarily abundant in a community yet experts strong control on community structure by the nature of its ecological role or niche	50
5084134738	Decomposers	organisms that absorb nutrients from nonliving organic material such as corpses, fallen plant material, the wastes of living organisms and converts them into inorganic forms; a detritivore	51
5084134742	Invasive Species	a species often introduced by humans, that takes hold outside its native range	52
5084134750	Taxis	directed movement towards or away from a stimulus	53
5084134751	Kinesis	movement in response to a stimulus that is not directional	54
5084134753	Density dependent factor	factor that affects population based on size (disease, predation etc)	55
5084134754	Density independent factor	factor that affect population regardless of size (weather, humans etc)	56
5084134755	Species diversity	variety of organisms in a community	57
5084134756	Species richness	the number of different species in a community	58
5084134757	Relative abundance	evenness of distribution of individuals among species in a community	59